


Five Things That Never Happened to Missouri

by orphan_account



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Gen, five things
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-11-16
Updated: 2009-11-16
Packaged: 2017-10-03 03:25:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,098
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13667
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For hossgal.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Five Things That Never Happened to Missouri

#   
1  


When she was eight, a stranger passing by gave Missouri a Tarot card. It was the first one she'd ever seen, with an angel (so she thought) pouring water from one goblet into another. For one blissful week, Missouri didn't get into any fights with her cousins or the neighbors next door. Then she lost the card, and things went back to normal.

#   
2  


Missouri had always been a spooky sort of child, despite her placid demeanor, and she knew her parents worried about her. She got feelings sometimes, about good things and bad things, and more often than not those feelings were borne out by circumstances.

One day, she was building sand castles at the playground when a stranger stopped by. She knew better than to talk to strangers, but she couldn't stop him from talking to her.

"I know you have dreams sometimes, and strange shivery feelings," the man said. "I can make them go away."

Missouri looked at him distrustfully. Her inner sense was not telling her good things about this man, no matter how nicely dressed he was. But she thought about her parents' worried voices when they stayed up late at night talking about her, thinking she couldn't hear; she thought about the priest's concerned eyes when he looked at her, Sundays. She nodded, once.

"Make a handprint in the sand," the man told Missouri. "All the spookiness will go into the handprint."

It was no stranger than the visions were to begin with, so she did as she was told. It wasn't until the stranger bent down and placed his own hand over the handprint that she felt a dizzy sort of relief. She didn't notice that the man's eyes flared briefly yellow.

Years later, she heard about the fire that took the Winchesters' home and Mary's life, of course, but it was one more tragedy in a world full of tragedies, and she soon forgot.

#   
3  


When John Winchester came to see Missouri with his two boys, she could see the shadow hanging over the younger one. She gave the boys some popsicles and indicated to John that they needed to talk privately.

John looked haggard and jumpy. "What is it?"

"Your younger boy is going to be nothing but trouble to himself and to you," she said. "I don't like to say this to a father, but it's God's own truth. Whatever thing tried to kill him, it's already left its mark on his soul."

Just as she'd suspected, though, John wasn't ready to contemplate the terrible things that would happen to--or because of--the boy. After John had left, Missouri put in a quiet call to some hunters she knew.

John wasn't experienced yet, and the hunters were. Sam never had a chance.

#   
4  


Missouri said to John, "You're going to have to face those boys one of these days, you know. You're stronger as a braid, three together, than as individual strands."

"They've got each other," John said. "And they're safer away from--"

The door clicked open, very quietly. John was on his feet in an instant.

"Hi, Dad," Sam said.

"I thought you might sense him," Missouri said. John just looked resigned.

Missouri went to the kitchen to get some coffee for them. She figured they didn't need her for their catching up.

#   
5  


Missouri wasn't one of those people who had problems with flying. She just didn't get opportunities to do it very often. Still, when your dreams told you something big was going to go down in Sioux Falls, you went to Sioux Falls. She might not see the Winchesters very often, but she was fond of them, and they were doing something important.

Sam babbled at her when she showed up at the hospital, poor lamb was all worked up, not that she blamed him. "Sam," she said, very gently, "calm down. Show me where your brother is." She already knew, of course, but giving him a task would help him focus on something other than his panic.

The mingled hope and relief in his eyes, his expectation of some miracle, was painful to see. Missouri hardened her heart, just a little. She was a psychic, but miracles weren't her domain.

The doctors were a little leery of her, but Sam explained that she was a friend of the family. Which was true, after all. Then she sat down at Dean's bedside, closed her eyes, and held Dean's hand, for Sam's benefit. She knew perfectly well that Dean's spirit was standing across from her, on the other side of the bed.

_Dean,_ she said silently, _can you hear me?_

With her inner sight, she saw Dean's head snap up, his eyes ablaze. "Missouri! Oh, God, can you--?"

_I have a hard thing to tell you,_ Missouri said, _and I don't like saying it, but when you're at death's door the way you are, it's time to face the world the way it is. Your daddy's about to do something very foolish because he loves you, Dean, because he loves you so much._

"It's not like I can _do_ anything about that," Dean said miserably. "He can't hear me at all. And getting anything through to Sammy takes forever and a half, with the Ouija board."

_There's a reaper coming for you, Dean,_ Missouri said. _She might not wear the face you expect, but you should take her hand._

She winced a little at Dean's outrage, even though he kept the cuss words to himself. He was a good boy at heart, after all. When he had gotten some of it out of his system, she continued, _Your daddy's setting up to bargain with the thing that killed your mother. I could tell Sam to stop him, of course, but your daddy's a stubborn man, and he's good at figuring out how to do what he wants to do. You're the only one who can stop him from giving way to the demon._

"He wouldn't do that," Dean said.

_What wouldn't you give up for your brother?_ Missouri countered.

In her inner sight she saw the reaper standing next to Dean, face sorrowful and gentle. She heard the reaper explaining to Dean what happened to spirits that refused to move on.

She knew before anyone else--well, other than the reaper--the moment that Dean passed on. "I'm sorry," Missouri said to Sam. "It wasn't enough."

She could lie to be kind, sometimes. She didn't expect him ever to forgive her, but as long as the lie helped him go on, it sufficed.


End file.
